Vitali Yevgenyevich Dyomochka (Russian: Вита́лий Евге́ньевич Дёмочка; born 5 December 1970), also known as Bondar, is a Russian director, writer, and actor. Dyomochka previously was head of an organised crime group in Ussuriysk, Primmorsky Krai; he subsequently dramatised his experiences in the TV series Spets.

Biography[edit]

Although Dyomochka was an A-grade student, he was expelled from school and later college.^[1] As the Soviet era drew to a close, he started his criminal career collecting protection money from local clothing stores as capitalism started to take off.^[1]

Vitali was convicted of several crimes including extortion and shooting a rival gangster, and after his release from prison in 1997 became the head of the Podstava criminal group.^{[citation needed]} The gang specialized in blackmailing money from passing drivers by setting up car accidents.

Dyomochka was also interviewed in the 2010 documentary Thieves by Law.

Spets TV show[edit]

Unsatisfied with the way organized crime was depicted in film and television,^{[citation needed]} Vitali set about creating his own TV series. Largely financed by his own money, the seven-part series finished production in 2003 and became a huge success, getting close to 100% ratings on a local television station.^{[citation needed]} The series drew a lot upon Vitali's own experiences, such as when a driver he had attempted to blackmail turned out to be a judge.^{[citation needed]} Over the course of the series ten members of his gang were arrested and one was murdered by rivals.

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

• AmericanMafia.com article about Spets and Vitali
• Telegraph - Mobster turns from gunning down rivals to shooting TV series
• IMDB page for Thieves by Law
• Russian mobster shoots TV show, The Washington Times
• Pomerantsev, Peter (2015). Nothing is true and everything is possible: adventures in modern Russia. London: Faber & Faber. pp. 22–41. ISBN 978-1610396004.